Inventing the New Dispensation in Zimbabwe

How does a regime, whose members have been actively involved in the previous one, appropriate and deploy religious ideas and rhetoric to cast itself as "born-again" and resplendent?

This book examines the invention of Zimbabwe's "New Dispensation," the regime of Emmerson D. Mnangagwa, which has aimed to separate itself from the previous regime of Robert G. Mugabe. Utilizing the concept of "invention" contributors reflect on how Mnangagwa and his publicists deploy religious ideas, concepts and rhetoric in the quest for legitimacy in a heavily contested political field. Chapters in the volume examine the use of time, theological ideas and religious practices to separate Mnangagwa's regime from Mugabe's. In this regard, contributors explore how religious ideas and ideals that are already in circulation within the religious marketplace become building blocks and material for minting a New Dispensation.